12 p.m. -- House Clerk calls the House to order, followed by a prayer, the pledge of allegiance and a quorum call. Nominations for speaker are then made.

Approx. 12:40 p.m. -- Members of Congress elect the new House speaker.

Approx. 1:40 p.m. -- Outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) addresses the House and presents the new speaker, John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Boehner addresses the House.

The dean of the House administers the oath of office to Speaker-elect Boehner.

Boehner swears in members of the 112th Congress.

2:30 p.m. -- Members of the House will take up consideration of the new Rules package on the floor. Meanwhile, Boehner holds a ceremonial swearing-in ceremony with the members of the 112th Congress (Rayburn Room, H-207, U.S. Capitol).

Fact checking, majorly, needs to come to the fore. Neither side should be able to get away with pure spin. Facts are facts and figures are figures. Economic projections of spending, cutting, deficit reduction, whatever, need to be vetted by highly competent and nonpartisan economists.

More than anything else, the scaremonger, fear-mongering, hyperventilating tactics of the Tea Party Right need to be reined in.

Deal in facts!
Provide reasonable, and logical, analysis of problems and prospective solutions.
Enough with slinging around accusations of a socialistic takeover of healthcare when the new healthcare law channels everything, 100 per cent, through private insurance companies.

Now if only the U.S. electorate would demand facts, reason, logic, and banish spin to the bleachers, maybe we could
get things fixed.

Yes, the people that gave us the "Big Bang" of economic woes (GOP) have the house...and the American voters want it that way!

GOP has the "tea party" nipping at its heals, not with policy but "theatrics" "tokenism"! Moderates within GOP will watch to see how far these folk will push for control (anti Muslim rhetoric and tax cuts etc).

Come election 2012 with the "tea party" at full "lunatic phase" moderates will distant themselves and voting with the democrats!

Democrats (Obama as POTUS) will only have to keep the "shadow elite" content that boils down to the country's may group...the arms industry?

I always enjoy reading the comments for my daily comedy. The people who ballooned the deficit are back in power again, will wonders never stop. They drove the budget into the ditch before and now for some reason that defies intelligence they're given the keys again. Let's see how happy they are in their new skin after the first year. I smell a Big "D" comeback in 2012!

if they would only stand up and charge mr.o with fraud ,, all the damage would get undone much more efectively. the only reason no one has been charged with depframation of character by mr.o is he can't proove we are wong , he is the one who is committing a crime of fraud by pretending he is constitutionaly qualified to hold office, just arrest this common terrorist. and execute him

Let'see. Bush soaked us for 9 trillion in 8 years, then Obama soaked us another 5 trillion in the next two years. No problem, just have every man-woman and child send a check for $42,000.00. If Grandma doesn't have the money we can hold her social security check for the next 4 years.

Thank goodness the adults take over tomorrow. After $10Trillion in new debt in just 2 years this country can't afford to let the Dem's be in charge of the light bulbs.
How is Nancy going to get home this weekend?? And who will pay for her refreshments when she flies?? After running a tab of $100K a year for 'refreshments" I hope they check the airplane this weekend since it is sure to be empty

Thank goodness the adults take over tomorrow. After $10Trillion in new debt in just 2 years this country can't afford to let the Dem's be in charge of the light bulbs.
How is Nancy going to get home this weekend?? And who will pay for her refreshments when she flies?? After running a tab of $100K a year for 'refreshments" I hope they check the airplane this weekend since it is sure to be empty

Thank goodness the adults take over tomorrow. After $10Trillion in new debt in just 2 years this country can't afford to let the Dem's be in charge of the light bulbs.
How is Nancy going to get home this weekend?? And who will pay for her refreshments when she flies?? After running a tab of $100K a year for 'refreshments" I hope they check the airplane this weekend since it is sure to be empty

Thank goodness the adults take over tomorrow. After $10Trillion in new debt in just 2 years this country can't afford to let the Dem's be in charge of the light bulbs.
How is Nancy going to get home this weekend?? And who will pay for her refreshments when she flies?? After running a tab of $100K a year for 'refreshments" I hope they check the airplane this weekend since it is sure to be empty

Thank goodness the adults take over tomorrow. After $10Trillion in new debt in just 2 years this country can't afford to let the Dem's be in charge of the light bulbs.
How is Nancy going to get home this weekend?? And who will pay for her refreshments when she flies?? After running a tab of $100K a year for 'refreshments" I hope they check the airplane this weekend since it is sure to be empty

Thank goodness the adults take over tomorrow. After $10Trillion in new debt in just 2 years this country can't afford to let the Dem's be in charge of the light bulbs.
How is Nancy going to get home this weekend?? And who will pay for her refreshments when she flies?? After running a tab of $100K a year for 'refreshments" I hope they check the airplane this weekend since it is sure to be empty

Thank goodness the adults take over tomorrow. After $10Trillion in new debt in just 2 years this country can't afford to let the Dem's be in charge of the light bulbs.
How is Nancy going to get home this weekend?? And who will pay for her refreshments when she flies?? After running a tab of $100K a year for 'refreshments" I hope they check the airplane this weekend since it is sure to be empty

Thank goodness the adults take over tomorrow. After $10Trillion in new debt in just 2 years this country can't afford to let the Dem's be in charge of the light bulbs.
How is Nancy going to get home this weekend?? And who will pay for her refreshments when she flies?? After running a tab of $100K a year for 'refreshments" I hope they check the airplane this weekend since it is sure to be empty

To IQ16.8 (you must haved forgotten the decimal); how's the koolaid tasting, aren't you sick of drinking that stuff yet? I'm thrilled to see all the morally bankrupt morons in charge of something. Putting Boehner in charge of the house is step one of securing Obama's second term. Watching these antiquated lunatics is going to be great TV! Welcome to 1950 America!

The article has it wrong. Boehner is not the Speaker of the House, he is the Weeper of the House. He will get in front of the cameras to be elected and sworn in as the "Speaker" and he will cry like a baby. Our standing in the political world will be lower than low.

As for work to be done, they won't do any, except try to undo what was done for the last two years. What we need is something to bring back the JOBS. Hey, Boehner, Where are the jobs???????????? Knock off all of that other trash and work on JOBS!!!!!!

For the past four years, demonkrats have been spitting in the faces of Republicans. Their marxcist communist dictator-in-chief has raised his middle finger, hostiley declared "I won," closed them out of meetings/ideas (including a vote to nationalize 1/6th of the American economy), etc. Now, suddenly, it's Republican "thugs" etc.

My expectations are rather low, at least for the strutting pustules who now control the House. I expect the House Rethugs will start making utter arses of themselves almost as soon as the gavel falls, making meaningless gestures as a sop to their idiot base while working behind the scenes in service of their masters on Wall Street and in corporate America, as always. In other words, only a few names will have changed since they last had control, and like they did before they will ultimately be revealed as criminals, un-indicted co-conspirators, fascists, fools, and above all, tools of the wealthy in their war to subjugate the working class.

The first order of business should be : Mr. President, we ask for unanimous consent and behalf of the American people that George W. Bush, Chenney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, pay for their crimes against humanity and to the IRS the sum of $7 trillion dollars they squandered from the American people. I yield the remaining of my time

The first order of business should be : Mr. President, we ask for unanimous consent and behalf of the American people that George W. Bush, Chenney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, pay for their crimes against humanity and to the IRS the sum of $7 trillion dollars they squandered from the American people. I yield the remaining of my time

Pgreer1,
If you're so concerned about "waste and corruption," as all you
Tea Party-types claim to be, some questions for you. Where were you during the Bush years? Where were you, when 2 wars were started, and not paid for? Where were you, when Medicare Part D was begun, and NOT paid for? Where were you, when $9 BILLION simply went missing in Iraq? Where were you, when the surplus that Mr.Bush started out with, was turned into the deficit that you're now so concerned about? Now, under THIS President, all of a sudden, you're so very concerned.

I hope this begins a new era of cooperation that bravely avoids bumper sticker and re-election politics. (One can hope for miracles.)

MODERATION, especially in hard times is what is best for all. Consider the needs of those
who need a hand up and ask more from those who have more.

1. Asking PROFITABLE CORPS to HIRE and RETURN JOBS TO USA should be a priority.

2. Using the Health care to have parents take more responsibility including insuring children with disabilities to age 26 and creating State school regulations or fed loan regs that allow school to accept private insurance vs taxpayer/student health fees could save lots and reduce loans.

3.Asking Instead that 4-8 year full time University students (not typically working jc students) with fed loans all buy monthly bus passes if they want fed loans will help support mass transit that is hit hard by economics. (they can donate the passes to homeless/disabled/vet charities if they want to drive any way.)

4. Supporting R&D and small and med biz startups should also be a priority!

5. Revisiting personal tax breaks that encourage top5% wealthy to take the $$ out of biz where it can be used to create jobs should also be on the agenda. Allowing biz investment breaks instead would be healthier.

6. Moving all costs of war including VA social services, sheltering, disability costs and retirement etc to DOD budget and then selling lower interest, but safe long term investment war bonds will be a help to ease the budget.

7. Tax breaks to help make existing multi family housing accessible and green could help stimulate construction jobs and reduce energy needs as well as better serve the aging and disability population so that they are more able longer.

The upcoming “debate” on “raising the debt ceiling” will surely be a hollow exercise in crass hypocrisy and futility. Consider the recent discussion on the subject by Economic Adviser Goolsbee, in which he warns that a default would provoke general "financial consternation" that would really be unthinkable. He didn't explicitly articulate JUST WHY that is the case, but to get some understanding of the real reason, consider the following.

Actually, the "handwriting is on the wall" in the form of a couple of the many WikiLeaks revelations. A basic point of one of them that does not seem to have quite yet "caught fire" in the general public "thinking" about the machinations within “our” and other governments that they document is that back in the days when the "big financial meltdown" was just getting started, "OUR BANKER" CHINA --- with whom it was “HARD” FOR “US” TO DEAL “TOUGHLY” (that being Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s later candid, “off the record” of course, characterization of things revealed in another, LATER cable documenting a discussion between her and the PM of Australia) --- through the persona of an assets management "agency" known by an English-language acronym SAFE --- pointedly "expressed alarm" about Lehman Brothers having been "allowed" to fail.

Evidently the Chinese were (likely quite rightly!) "concerned" that many more such "resolutions" of things would SIGNIFICANTLY DAMAGE LARGE "CHINESE FINANCIAL INTERESTS"! --- and saw fit to make its "anxiety" known, however politely, to US diplomats. And INDEED, it surely would have led to a REALLY big "run on the bank" if "OUR BANKER" were to have taken steps to generally cut losses and "bail out"!

So anything like an "HONEST, de rigeur, let the chips-fall-where-they-may unwinding" of the excesses that had been built up by “our” “marvelous” financial MIS”management” HAD TO IN EFFECT BE (ARTIFICIALLY) ABORTED(!) --- OR ELSE! --- and that NOTWITHSTANDING the supposedly"conservative", “free-market” ideology of ex-"King" Georgie and his Crackpot Cabal of NeoConMen! And "we" now see how all of that has “played out”.
The POINT, for the benefit of any who might not quite yet pick up on the theme for themselves, is that a significant part of what was (and CONTINUES to be!) "too big to fail" was NOT really mere “large Wall Street Firms" --- the seeming “special” treatment of which has so enraged many folks who don’t actually “get” what has transpired --- but, rather, the huge CHINESE and OTHER-NATIONAL-scale financial interests in this country and its economy! The sleazy bankers COULD HIDE BEHIND A DRAGON!

The upcoming “debate” on “raising the debt ceiling” will surely be a hollow exercise in crass hypocrisy and futility. Consider the recent discussion on the subject by Economic Adviser Goolsbee, in which he warns that a default would provoke general "financial consternation" that would really be unthinkable. He didn't explicitly articulate JUST WHY that is the case, but to get some understanding of the real reason, consider the following.

Actually, the "handwriting is on the wall" in the form of a couple of the many WikiLeaks revelations. A basic point of one of them that does not seem to have quite yet "caught fire" in the general public "thinking" about the machinations within “our” and other governments that they document is that back in the days when the "big financial meltdown" was just getting started, "OUR BANKER" CHINA --- with whom it was “HARD” FOR “US” TO DEAL “TOUGHLY” (that being Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s later candid, “off the record” of course, characterization of things revealed in another, LATER cable documenting a discussion between her and the PM of Australia) --- through the persona of an assets management "agency" known by an English-language acronym SAFE --- pointedly "expressed alarm" about Lehman Brothers having been "allowed" to fail.

Evidently the Chinese were (likely quite rightly!) "concerned" that many more such "resolutions" of things would SIGNIFICANTLY DAMAGE LARGE "CHINESE FINANCIAL INTERESTS"! --- and saw fit to make its "anxiety" known, however politely, to US diplomats. And INDEED, it surely would have led to a REALLY big "run on the bank" if "OUR BANKER" were to have taken steps to generally cut losses and "bail out"!

So anything like an "HONEST, de rigeur, let the chips-fall-where-they-may unwinding" of the excesses that had been built up by “our” “marvelous” financial MIS”management” HAD TO IN EFFECT BE (ARTIFICIALLY) ABORTED(!) --- OR ELSE! --- and that NOTWITHSTANDING the supposedly"conservative", “free-market” ideology of ex-"King" Georgie and his Crackpot Cabal of NeoConMen! And "we" now see how all of that has “played out”.
The POINT, for the benefit of any who might not quite yet pick up on the theme for themselves, is that a significant part of what was (and CONTINUES to be!) "too big to fail" was NOT really mere “large Wall Street Firms" --- the seeming “special” treatment of which has so enraged many folks who don’t actually “get” what has transpired --- but, rather, the huge CHINESE and OTHER-NATIONAL-scale financial interests in this country and its economy! The sleazy bankers COULD HIDE BEHIND A DRAGON!

The implication is that all those of us (me, for one, included) who have now suffered substantial “financial reverses” and “damage” in "the meltdown" have really simply HAD TO BE SACRIFICED AHEAD OF REALLY BIG “PLAYERS” in the overall grand pecking order of things! The Chinese had (AND SURELY STILL HAVE!) both the PERSPICACITY, and --- by “virtue” of their SHEER MASS the CLOUT! --- to be able to “dodge the bullet”, WHICH CLEARED THE WAY FOR IT TO STRIKE US! Confucius say: big fish eats smaller fish eats still smaller fish eats …But the "lunch" that got eaten WASN'T that of Wall Street Whiz-Bangs! Rather, it ends up having been that of "We the (small) People"!

So consider how the fact that the huge accumulation of "our" debt IS SO HEAVILY CONCENTRATED IN THE "PORTFOLIO" OF JUST ONE SINGLE 800-POUND GIANT PANDA changes the game! And recognize too that all the folks out there who have now lost or will be losing their homes, and/or their retirement security, and in some cases THEIR VERY LIVES if they are so unfortunate as to become ill and can't afford medical insurance/care, and all the outraged “Tea Party” types, REALLY OUGHT TO RE-THINK whatever allegiance they may still foolishly feel for the supposed "rock-ribbed conservative values" that were FALSELY PROPOUNDED by the marvelous Whiz-Bangs who GAVE "US" THIS MESS!

Do you progressives think this is a dream?
This is real. This is war. War against this inept, incompetant radical leftist President and it starts tomorrow. Did you think the elections were some aberration? This action by Congress is real. This absurd Obamacare Health program
is 'dead man walkin'. If it's not repealed, it will be declared 'unconstitutional' by the Supreme Court. Or, it will be 'defunded' by Congress. Congress controls the pursestrings.
This Congress is taking a wrecking ball to this absurd bill and it--and this President's 'legacy'--are going down together. Then, the invesigations. All the corruption. All the waste. It's going to get ugly very soon. The gloves are off. The only thing left of this progressive 'dream' President will be a grease spot.

It’s overdue! Get rid of special interest financing of elections across the board and say good-bye corporate welfare.

The media has become a large part of the special interest takeover of our process as if they know what is best for all of us. Voters support this takeover by voting for those candidates who usually spend the most money and the question is why?

Lavish campaigns go too long,spend way too much money and do not necessarily provide the best available. It's up to voters to stop the nonsense at the voting booths. The media loves those big campaign dollars.

Replace 95% of all elected officials every 4 years for the house and every 6 years for the Senate. Ralph Nader suggests 90%.

Public financing of campaigns is our only option of protection. Citizens cannot afford special interest money campaigns for it is the citizens that get left out. Support public Financing :http://www.publicampaign.org/

Our legislators must provide an opportunity for the voters to decide on the 2012 ballot across the nation. For legislators will never give up lucrative special interest money.

The Senate is broken

A minority of 41 Republican Senators has virtually stopped reform in its tracks:

Now that you have some actual power again (the House) you won't be able to get away with spending all of your time throwing verbal bombs at the Dems, going golfing at the country club and then hitting the DC cocktail circuit at night every day. You either CREATE JOBS or you will be gone in 2012 so fast that your heads will spin.

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